Trump: ‘I’d love to see a shutdown’ unless the immigration deal changes

President Trump told the media that he would "love to see" a government shutdown if Democrats refuse to meet his demands on an immigration deal. (Image Source: YouTube screenshot)

Carlos Garcia

Feb 6, 2018 7:31 pm

President Trump is being criticized for saying that unless the immigration deal is changed to meet his standards, he would “love to see a shutdown” of the government.

Here’s video of his comments:

Here’s what he said in context:

“If we don’t change the legislation,” Trump warned, “if we don’t change the loopholes where killers are allowed to come into our country and continue to kill, and we’re just talking about MS-13, there are many gang members that we don’t even mention.”

“If we don’t change it, let’s have a shutdown, we’ll do a shutdown,” he said. “And it’s worth it for our country. I’d love to see a shutdown if we don’t get this stuff taken care of.”

“If we don’t straighten out our border, we don’t have a country,” he said later in the meeting at the White House. “Without borders, we don’t have a country.

“So would I shut it down over this issue?” he asked. “Yes, I can’t speak for our great representatives here, but I have a feeling they may agree with me. OK? Thank you.”

Trump has offered to agree to a pathway to citizenship for “dreamers,” but Democrats balked his demand to significantly shut down immigration through border enforcement, including $25 billion to build his famed border wall.